I've dutifully studied the 40 essential snare drum rudiments for several months now. I know I'm far from truly mastering them, but I feel like I'm ready to move on to something new as well while I continue to hone my skills for those 40.

What's the 'next step' in rudimental snare drumming? Are there more rudiments after those? What should I do to continue to improve my knowledge of the rudiments?

NOTE: While this question could easily just ask for an entire treatise on advanced snare drumming, I'd like to specifically focus on the rudiments and leave topics like technique, solo creation, visuals, etc. for another question. :D

2 Answers
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If you're just looking for more rudiment-type patterns to practice, the 40 standard rudiments are only the beginning. There are literally thousands of potential new licks and patterns, many of which elaborate on the original 40. These are often referred to as 'Hybrid Rudiments', to emphasize that they combine and extend the traditional 40.

This list of 128 hybrid rudiments is superb. I have been working on memorizing all of them for several months now and find them highly educational as they not only make you think of new patterns but refine your mastery of old ones. Some of the rudiments listed there are duplicates of each other, but this barely matters as there are still at least 110 completely distinct patterns in the book.

Vic Firth's website has a list of around 50 more hybrid rudiments, many of which have videos and suggested warm ups to use before learning the full hybrid. You'll find many of these are duplicates of the those found in the previously mentioned book of 128, even bearing the exact same name. This alludes to the fact that there already is a sort of standardized list of hybrids that have become well known throughout the drumming world.

Rudiments are just the basic building blocks of rudimental drumming. The next logical step would be to combine those rudiments to pieces of music. I'd recommend getting the Charly Wilcoxon's book "The All-American Drummer: 150 Rudimental Solos".